Wandering through the isles of a certain supermarket, my mind drifted as I pondered what to cook for dinner. As I turned a corner in the vegetable aisle, I spotted a heap of root ginger beneath their herb selection. Suddenly, dinner vanished from my mind. A pan, filled with coarsely-chopped ginger root crystallising with sugar hovered near the edges of my awareness like a willo-the-wisp glimpsed in the corner of your eye.

I wanted to bake. Cookies. Who cares that I’d never done it before? It’s like all things in life:

Bake it ’til you make it.

Armagnac and Ginger Cookies

These deliciously spicy cookies are laced with Armagnac to give a heady bite, and are definitely one to lick the spoon on.

First off, preheat the oven to 175°C, line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and coat it with butter.

Pop the butter in a pyrex bowl and melt it in the oven. Remove and let it cool, pour both the sugars in your mixing bowl, then add the butter and stir in well. Douse this mix with armagnac and beat in the whole egg and the extra yolk.

Mix in the flour and sodium bicarbonate slowly, then throw in the crystallised ginger, chocolate, and fold it all together. If the mixture seems a little dry you can add a splash of milk (I just dash a bit more Armagnac in).

Using a pair of dessert spoons (or an ice-cream scoop if you have one!) measure out the dough onto the buttered baking sheet – they’ll need to be a few inches apart as they will expand when baked. Depending on the size of your oven, you may need to cook these in batches, so keep the dough in the fridge while the first tray is cooking.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the edges turn golden, then remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Cyclist, gym bunny, cork-dork, living proof of the French Paradox and possibly the only Scotsman who does not like Irn-Bru. My favourite wine is the next one I get to try, so pass the corkscrew and come explore! majesticwine@majesticwine+majesticwine